Gender Diversity Recruitment

Gender diversity is good for business:

The recruitment and retention of women in middle management and senior level roles continues to be a challenge facing many organisations around the globe.

Survey after survey has shown that those companies who have more women on their senior management teams and on their boards reap greater financial rewards.

The truth is gender diversity is so much more than just meeting an agreed quota. The reality is that there are many layers of complexity for an organisation to consider.

Most companies need to review their existing recruitment and retention strategies to ensure women can participate more fully in the workforce so they can reach a position of influence.

To effectively embrace gender diversity; it means significant change for an organisation and a real commitment from the top level down. Only then will businesses benefit from an inclusive and diverse workforce; and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

Some of the key recommendations to drive a more inclusive and gender diverse workforce to consider are:

Review existing recruitment practices. Employers might consider having at least one woman on their selection panel. Introducing blind CVs, or review position descriptions to ensure they truly reflect the qualities/skills required etc is also another consideration.

Create a fair, objective and engaging culture for everyone. Diversity and inclusion go hand in hand; you cannot have one without the other.

Offer flexibility. Companies shouldn’t measure on ‘desk time’ or ‘hours’ but more on output or results. Companies need to be more innovative and accommodating in terms of employment arrangements to be more family friendly for all employees.

Make mentoring and sponsorship of women a priority. It’s difficult for any organisation to embrace gender diversity without role models and mentors on both a formal and informal basis.

Invest in training to educate on bias, stereotypes and to develop an inclusive mindset. Everyone has a level of unconscious bias simply because we all exercise a level of personal judgement in our decisions.

At Drake, we have been working with a number of clients to help overcome some of the many challenges associated with the successful attraction, selection and retention of female talent.

If you recognise the need to bridge the workplace gender gap in your organisation and would like to find out more, email us at genderdiversity@au.drakeintl.com or call Sarah Ross on 13 14 48.

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